


Balancing Act

by Lazchan



Category: The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-20
Updated: 2014-09-20
Packaged: 2018-02-18 04:02:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2334551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lazchan/pseuds/Lazchan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bailey thinks about how he and the Circus are the same. It's a balancing act with feathers and weights, but also sticky hands with friendship and love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Balancing Act

Celia and Marco hadn't been able to prepare him for the initial shock of being tied to the circus. Celia, more than anyone, knew the ins and outs of every tent, every spectacle, the taste of the food and the smell of the air. The atmosphere was one that she lived and breathed and now it all was wrapped around him. 

It was comforting and overwhelming all at once. It was a combination of warm scarves and the smell of caramel popcorn and the calm heat of the white flames of the bonfire. It was the softness of the Cloud Maze and the icy structures of the Ice Garden. It was the chatter of the patrons, the thrill of the performers, the ticking of the clock. 

The clock figured into his dreams and thoughts, marking off the minutes and hours and days of the circus. Always moving forward, marking time when he had no reference to mark time for himself anymore. 

It was like being surrounded by all of Widget's bottles in the Bedtime Stories tent; immensely comforting and confusing and connecting him with everything. It was balancing on the highest of the highwires, balancing with a weight in one hand and a feather in the other. 

Poppet and Widget helped and he couldn't do it without them. Marco and Celia were still there, flashes of their images, a curve of a cheek and a hint of a smile. Voices whispering in the quiet, explaining and teaching and guiding them until their feet were steadier beneath them, until the balancing didn't seem quite so dangerous and terrifying. 

Until it was more of wandering through the circles of the tents, filled with wonder again, filled with a need to explore and invent and draw more plans and ideas. When Poppet's smiles and Widget's light touches guided him more than Celia's whispers. 

When the Circus went from place to place, bringing more of this and more of that with it, expanding and exploring not only itself, but Bailey as well. It was his Circus, his life and purpose and he was so entwined in it that it was hard to remember any other life, any other way of living. 

Widget brings him to earth at times, reminding him of who he was; when he wandered the Circus for the first time; when he shared chocolate mice and cinnamon twists with Widget and Poppet. When he first met Isobel. His family and his farm are not left out, either—even though his one bottle was sacrificed to the fire, Widget creates others, not of the tree—because that was willingly given, but the scent of apples and sheep, the meadow on a clear summer's day and the smell of hay. 

It's because of Widget he never forgets the past and Poppet eases any fears about the future. She helps him see the guests, what to expect—what can happen and to help with any problems that arise. She is there with the people and knows them and learns about them and helps expand and tailor the circus to what people's dreams expect it to be. 

Bailey could not imagine the Circus without them; it was because of them that he came back, because of what he felt for Poppet and Widget and what the Circus nudged him to do. Mostly because of the twins; even when there were years between one visit and the next, he always saw them in the back of his mind, hands warm and sticky from treats, from the cool of the night and closeness. 

He loves the Circus, but some days it is hard to separate himself from the Circus and knows it would be disastrous to try. 

It should have been equally hard to separate himself from Poppet and Widget, but he never felt the need to, never wanted to try. He loves them and they love him and it's partly that connection that keeps the Circus running in all its parts. 

Bailey still feels that the Circus, a flavor of magic and manipulation tempted him to that field that day to meet Poppet and set this all in motion. 

He doesn't begrudge it at all; as he looks down at Poppet and Widget curled up next to him, black and white kittens scattered around them all, he smiles. 

He wouldn't change any of this for anything in the world.


End file.
